Over £1million given to civil society organisations in Malawi for community engagement in mining

Update 30 November 2013: Tilitonse has now released online the recipient organisations and projects awarded funding through the call for proposals described below.

Today (14 November 2013) in The Nation, Tilitonse, a grant-making facility for Malawian-based civil society organisations, released the list of organisations that have received funding in response to a Thematic Call for Project Proposals. Tilitonse, jointly funded by the UK Department for International Development, Royal Norwegian Embassy and Irish Aid, circulated a call for proposals, which we blogged about in April 2013, on mining, local governance and access to information.

The fund aims to support civil society in playing a role in supporting governance in Malawi that is inclusive, accountable and responsive to citizens.

The organisations and projects described briefly below, as printed in The Nation, have received funding in response to the call for proposals on the mining sector.

1.

Project Title: Responsive Mining Governance for Equitable and Sustainable Development of Malawi

Lead Organisation: ActionAid International Malawi (see Job Advert for 3 positions with this project)

PartnerOrganisation: Citizens for Justice

Goal: Promoting transparency and accountability in the extractive sector for equitable and sustainable development.

Outcome: Improved collective action amongst CSO actors and communities for effective advocacy on accountability and transparency in the extractive industry in Malawi.

Project Result Areas: Improved collective action amongst CSOs to pursue advocacy on mining issues; increased technical capacity of member civil society organisations on issues of mining; increased capacity and voice of the poor communities especially women to influence decisions on issues of mining at community level

Geographical Coverage: Chitipa, Mzima, Phalombe

Project Duration: 2 years

Approved Amount: £320,844

2.

Project Title: Strengthening Mining Governance in Malawi

Lead Organisation: Centre for Environmental Policy and Advocacy (CEPA)

Partner Organisation: Natural Resources Justice Network (NRJN)

Goal: Governance in the mining sector in Malawi is more inclusive and accountable

ProjectResultAreas: Review of policy and institutional framework for regulating the mining sector influenced by CSOs; increase cohesion of CSOs in policy advocacy on mining; increased public understanding of mining issues

ProjectResultAreas: Policy, institutional and legal framework reforms initiated in the mining sector; a comprehensive stakeholder engagement framework established at community level; civil society organisations mobilised and supported to effective support affected communities and engage the mining sector and government; improved capacity among coalition partners to effectively implement and monitor interventions the mining sector.

In Tilitonse’s call for proposals, the goal in the mining sector is to build an effective and functional CSO Natural Resources Network, with a single, multi-dimensional, and credible body that can add value to policy processes and analysis and provide mining related responses in a strategic manner. We hope that this network will ensure that the civil society stakeholders awarded funding this month will collaborate, share experiences and promote a unified approach to addressing community engagement in Malawi’s mining sector.

The groups are very welcome to publish their experiences and results on this site in their efforts to promote transparency and improve information sharing within Malawi and outside the country’s borders.